Photo by: Max Curran, Coastal Carolina Digital
Chanticleers to Host No. 13 Louisiana in Home Regular-Season Finale
4/30/2021 11:37:00 AM | Softball
The two teams have faced off eight times in the past two seasons
CONWAY, S.C. - The Coastal Carolina softball team will look to improve on their eight-game winning streak this weekend, May 1-2, at St. John Stadium as they host the No. 13 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns in the final home regular-season series.
On Saturday, May 1, the two teams will kickoff the matchup with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. ET. The first pitch for game three is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sunday, May 2.
CCU comes into the weekend with a 19-19 overall record and is currently in seventh place of the Sun Belt Conference with a 7-11 record. Louisiana is in first place of the conference with 16-2 record and 31-9 overall.
Health and safety protocols for attendance will remain in place to include, but not limited to:
HOME SWEET HOME
LOOKIN' BACK
SHAKE IT OFF
STEWIN' STAVI
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
HISTORY AGAINST
On Saturday, May 1, the two teams will kickoff the matchup with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. ET. The first pitch for game three is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sunday, May 2.
CCU comes into the weekend with a 19-19 overall record and is currently in seventh place of the Sun Belt Conference with a 7-11 record. Louisiana is in first place of the conference with 16-2 record and 31-9 overall.
Health and safety protocols for attendance will remain in place to include, but not limited to:
- Admission to home games will be managed by a team list only and no tickets will be sold.
- Face coverings WILL BE required.
- Creation of "buffer" around the field and/or team areas (i.e. dugouts, bullpens).
- When concessions are available, cashless or touchless payment options (when applicable) will be available along with pre-packaged food and beverage options.
- Increased cleaning of high traffic areas during events.
- No printed gameday programs or rosters.
HOME SWEET HOME
- Coastal wraps up its home regular-season schedule versus No. 13 Louisiana at St. John Stadium.
- CCU has won its last five home games, including last weekend's sweep of the UTA Arlington Mavericks (8-5, 6-1, 5-2), their first SBC sweep since April 2019 at South Alabama.
- CCU is batting .282 in 19 games at home compared to .294 in 17 games on the road this season.
- Senior Makiya Thomas leads Chanticleers with a .364 (24-for-66) batting average, 14 RBI, six doubles, scored 16 times, forced six walks, and stole seven bases in 19 Coastal's home games.
- Graduate Kayla Rosado is batting .333 (18-for-54) at St. John Stadium this season with two doubles, five home runs, nine walks, and 14 RB in 19 home games. Rosado has hit safely in 15 of her 19 home contests this season.
- The Chants' pitching staff has a 4.38 in 19 home games compared to a 4.21 ERA in 17 games on the road this season.
- Sophomore Raelee Brabham leads the Chanticleer pitching staff with a 3.99 ERA at home with eight appearances this season.
LOOKIN' BACK
- The Coastal Carolina softball team scored 12 times over the final five innings with a season-high 14 hits to come from behind to defeat the UNCW Seahawks,12-5, on Wednesday night at Boseman Field. Eight batters had at least one hit in the victory.
- Senior Taylor Sweigart and Rosado led the team with three hits apiece. Sweigart was on base in all four of her at-bats as she went 3-for-3, a double, a RBI, and a walk. Rosado batted 3-for-4 with a double, 2 RBI, and scored a run.
- The Chanticleers needed a combined effort out of their pitching staff to defeat UNCW. The Seahawks scored four times through the first two innings on Coastal Carolina starting pitcher Kaitlin Beasley-Polko, but the duo of Iyanla De Jesus and Brabham shut down the opponent's bats as they allowed just one run over the final five innings. De Jesus improved to 5-6 on the season as she pitched two innings, allowed three hits and one run. Brabham added her second save of the season as she pitched three scoreless innings out of the CCU bullpen.
SHAKE IT OFF
- On March 21, the senior Sweigart was batting .227, but in the last 17 games, the Chants' second baseman has batted .342 and increased her average by 53 points to .280. In that span, she's hit three home runs, a triple, RBI with nine RBI, 10 walks, an on-base percentage of .500, and a slugging percentage of .658.
STEWIN' STAVI
- In her last 16 games, senior Stavi Augur has hit safely in 12 games with a .322 batting average, five doubles, two home runs, 12 runs scored, and 11 RBI.
- Augur started the season below a .100 (.098) batting average and has raised her batting average to .237 during the 16 game span.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
- Louisiana comes into the weekend in first place of the Sun Belt Conference with a 35-9 overall record and a 16-2 conference record. The Ragin' Cajuns have won 15 of their last 16 games in conference, with their lone loss occurring on April 17 at home to Texas State by the score of 5-1.
- The last time out, April 24-25, LA lost to the No. 5 Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, Ala., by the scores of 5-3 and 5-1.
- To open the series, Alabama's Lexi Kifoyl capped off a 4-0 lead with a three-run home run off Cajun's starter Summer Ellyson. In the top of the fifth, with bases loaded, an RBI ground out from pinch hitter Carrie Boswell got Louisiana on the board, Ciara Bryan reached on a fielder's choice to reload the bases. Then a two-run single from Kaitlyn Alderink sliced the Crimson Tide's lead to 4-3 with still only one out recorded. Alabama put a bow on the game, one victory in the bottom of the fifth with an unearned run to seal the win, 5-3.
- In the series finale, Alabama scored four times in the first three innings of play and never looked back. The Tide's Elissa Brown put an infield single in play that led to two runs crossing the plate for a 2-0 lead. An inning later, with two outs, Alabama's Savannah Woodard was able to drive an inside the park home run into right field to increase the lead to 4-1 right after the Ragin' Cajuns got on the board.
HISTORY AGAINST
- The Ragin' Cajuns hold a 12-2 all-time advantage in the series and the longest win streak of six games from 2018-2019.
- Coastal Carolina is 2-4 lifetime versus Louisiana at St. John Stadium.
- The Chanticleer wins are notable versus Louisiana, with the most recent being March 6, 2020. It was the first time a CCU team has knocked off a top-10 team of then-No. 8 Louisiana. In the March 10, 2018 victory, CCU knocked off then the No. 22 Ragin' Cajuns. That was the first time a Coastal team beat a top-25 opponent since March 4, 2004 against Oregon.
- In the 2020 series, Louisiana beat the Chants 2-1, while Alissa Dalton, Kaitlyn Alderink, and Kendall Talley each batted .400 or better in the series. In two appearances, pitcher Summer Ellyson had a 2.17 ERA with a complete-game shutout and tallied 9.2 innings.
- In just eight career-at bats against Louisiana, Makiya Thomas has batted .375, with a double and RBI. Senior Courtney Dean has the highest batting average of all current CCU players who have played more than three games against the Ragin' Cajuns. Dean, in her career, has batted .269 (7-for-26), with three home runs, a double, six RBI, and five runs scored.
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